By ROB O'NEILL
Nearly $300 million in existing research contracts are being renegotiated to encourage more high-risk "hard" science.
The Associate Minister for Economic Development, Pete Hodgson, told the Business Herald a number of crown research institutes had made the change in direction to accommodate the Government's desire to encourage new and emerging industries.
He said a lot of new technology was leaping the traditional area of emphasis in Government research spending, the Public Good Science Fund.
Early-stage work under the New Economy Research Fund was now often taken straight to market.
As an example he cited Pacific Lithium, which was proceeding with a Nasdaq listing while still engaged in fundamental science on its battery technologies.
He said many of the changes had come out of the Foresight Project, an industry consultation initiative put in place under the National Government.
Dr Steve Thompson, the chief executive of the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, said the basis for the changes was the previous Government's statement of science priorities.
"It included a list of 14 target outcomes which we were to invest in. Those became our marching orders. They were outcomes rather than inputs."
The foundation fleshed out the priorities, decided this year would be transitional and approached research providers on how they could best achieve the outcomes.
"If they did a reasonable job they were pretty sure to get their money back this year. Next year we go back into competition mode."
One researcher that has made the shift is AgResearch.
Its manager of science and technology, Tricia Harris, said negotiations with the foundation, the main Government buyer of research and development, had been completed at the strategic level and project contracts were being negotiated.
The changes had been made in response to National's signals in its Blueprint for Change document and what AgResearch understood the new Government's priorities to be.
Dr Thompson said the strategic plans had been signed off. About 400-500 specific contracts were now being reviewed to ensure they fulfilled the required outcomes.
These would be in place by July 1.
Contract review as focus changes
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